Sinn Fein is intent on contesting in a Presidential race with Pearse Doherty and Aengus O Snodaigh being tipped as early frontrunners to get the party nomination.

This will heap pressure on the other two larger parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to put forward candidates and enter the race too, something that some party big-wigs of both will not be happy with considering the cost implications.

However, the elephant in the room is still Michael D Higgins and whether he will decide to go for a second seven year term in Aras an Uachtarain.

If the popular 77-year-old does decide to go again, it is highly unlikely that the mainstream parties would bother wasting money on a contest they would most likely lose.

19/06/17 President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar sign the Warrant of Appointment of Her Honour Ms. Maire Whelan this morning at Aras an Uachtarain during a Judicial Appointmwnt Ceremony in which Ms. Whelan was appointed to the Court of Appeal. (Image: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.)

President Michael D Higgins led a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. (Image: Twitter)